Friday's Notes

David Dobbs,"Tut DNA: The Risks and Rewards of Royal Incest," National Geographic, September, discusses the advantages and widespread practice of royal incest.

Adam Kirsch reviews Fred Inglis's A Short History of Celebrity for the Barnes & Noble Review, 20 August.

Alastair Macauley,"The Protean Master of the Ballets Russes," NYT, 25 August, reviews Sjeng Scheijen's Diaghilev: A Life, trans. by Jane Hedley-Prôle and S. J. Leinbach.

Anne Karpf reviews Francine Prose's Anne Frank: The Book, the Life, the Afterlife for the Guardian, 21 August.

Leslie Sprout,"Unlocking the Mystery of Honegger," NYT, 26 August, searches the evidence of Arthur Honegger's political loyalty during World War II.

It is nine years since 9/11:
Jen Phillips,"Ground Zero's Slave Graves," Mother Jones, 25 August, argues that, since about 10% of North American slaves were Muslim, it seems likely that Manhattan's Twin Towers were built on Muslim holy ground. At Lal Salaam, Vinay Lal has a three-part series,"The Mosque at ‘Hallowed' Ground":

Part I, The Controversy and the Meaning of ‘America'

Part II, Some Notes on the Politics of Place & Name

Part III, Islamophobia and the new Anti-Semitism in the US

It is five years since Hurricane Katrina:

Emily Clark,"Five Years and an Oil Spill Later," Religion in American History, 26 August

Dorothy Moye,"Katrina + 5: An X-Code Exhibition," Southern Spaces, 26 August.

Adam Kirsch,"The Literary Critic as Humanist," Slate, 26 August, pays tribute to the late Frank Kermode.